Pleasing point after pre-match problems

Rochdale 0
Swindon Town 0

Rochdale manager Keith Hill was happy to come away with a point from his side’s game against League Two promotion candidates Swindon Town. Hill’s pre-match preparation was thrown into turmoil when more than half of his first team players arrived late following a crash on the M62, which left them stuck in traffic.

In the end Hill was able to field his original choice eleven but central midfielder Lee Crooks arrived with only five minutes to spare. The motorway chaos almost brought a start for Dale assistant manager Dave Flitcroft, who was named amongst the substitutes. Hill said: “Lee Crooks got here about five minutes before the cut off point in respect of our team preparation and other than that Dave Flitcroft would have played.

 “The crash on the M62 left about seven or eight of our players in traffic. Eventually we got the same team on the pitch that we had on the original team sheet but some of the lads couldn’t get here on time; fortunately they got here fifteen minutes before kick off. It was a result that we were quite thankful for to be honest.”

Rochdale were already without two influential players in John Doolan and Glenn Murray through injury so the side that only began to take shape a quarter of an hour before kick off was pleased with a point against a side sitting third in the league. A share of the spoils was the right result for a game in which the two sides were equally matched throughout. The game provided enough entertainment but it was the defences, rather than the forwards, that had to be admired on both sides.

As in Saturday’s game against Lincoln, Rochdale had the better of the possession, especially in the second half, but this time there was to be no late drama as Swindon saw out their defensive responsibilities right to the final whistle with Jerel Ifil constantly thwarting Dale attacks before a clear sight of goal could be manufactured; Swindon will miss the tall centre-half when he is suspended for their next two games.

Having survived some early scares in the opening period Rochdale came out and looked to take the game to their opponents in the second and against lesser teams they might well have taken the three points that would seriously boost their playoff credentials, as it is a place in the end of season showdown now looks to be a bridge too far for Keith Hill’s men.

Half chances were all Dale could ever muster and it was the visitors that actually carved out the more clear-cut openings as they turned in an ideal away performance; soaking up considerable amounts of pressure whilst always providing the home defence with something to think about at the other end; the only thing missing was poor finishing. Matthew Gilks had a quiet evening in the Dale goal when he should have had much more to do from some of Swindon’s more clear-cut chances.

Christian Roberts missed a great opportunity for Swindon to steal the points midway through the second half when he blazed high over the crossbar on the volley from inside the Rochdale box after latching on to Andy Nicholas’ headed through ball.

The closest Dale came to converting one of their half chances was when Chris Dagnall held up the ball with his back to goal following Lewis Dodd’s knockdown before firing an acrobatic overhead kick which raced inches past the post.

Adam Rundle, Rochdale’s most useful attacking option, provided the biggest tests for Smith in the Swindon goal. The goalkeeper moved across his goal smartly in order to pluck the Dale winger’s goal bound free kick out of the air and he did well to gather Rundle’s well struck shot from a tight angle at the second attempt, with Dagnall looking to take advantage of anything that went loose in the six yard box. Smith was on his toes once more when an in-swinging Rundle corner deceived everyone bar the Swindon keeper, who palmed the ball out before it sneaked in at the near post.

A post was all that came between Dale and a first half opener. The closest either side came to breaking the deadlock was when Alan Goodall lobbed a half cleared Dale corner to the far post where Simon Ramsden nodded the ball down, only for it to come back off the upright.

Swindon’s best chance came even earlier as they looked to catch Rochdale on their heels with a bright start following the home side’s pre-match problems. Matthew Gilks produced an excellent stop when Sofiene Zaaboub found some shooting space on the edge of the box and the Swindon winger should have at least had an assist to his name when, from the resulting corner, Barry Corr was left with a free header, but he put the ball over from six yards.

Man of the match – Adam Rundle – The one player in Rochdale’s attacking arsenal that the Swindon defenders struggled to deal with. Rundle’s ball carrying confidence grows by the match as he looks to secure his stay at Spotland beyond the end of the season and he was the only one to add end product to good football by drawing some decent saves from Smith in the Swindon goal.

Attendance: 2,544

Rochdale: Gilks, Ramsden, Stanton, McArdle, Goodall, Muirhead (Poole 74), Crooks, Perkins, Rundle, Dagnall, Dodds (Reet 65).
Subs not used: Rigby, Jackson, Flitcroft.

Booked: Stanton.

Swindon: P. Smith, J. Smith, Ifil, Vincent, Nicholas, Roberts, Peacock, Pook, Zaaboub (Brown 86), Corr, Jutkiewicz (Timlin 73).
Subs not used: Sturrock, Grimes, Gnakpa.

Booked: J. Smith, Vincent, Corr.

Attempts (on target): Rochdale 9 (5) Swindon 5 (2)
Free kicks: Rochdale 24 Swindon 16
Offside: Rochdale 2 Swindon 7
Corners: Rochdale 8 Swindon 6

Referee: R Lewis.